Contest Entry: French Fig Clafouti

Challenge Prompt from Foodbuzz: Ready to tackle a classic dish from another culture? Pick an ethnic classic that is outside your comfort zone or are not as familiar with. You should include how you arrived at this decision in your post. Do your research then try to pull off successfully creating this challenge. Try to keep the dish as authentic as the real deal, and document your experience through a compelling post.

Even though I don’t speak the language and I’ve only traveled there once, I have an undying love {obsession} with the French lifestyle. How can you not appreciate rich food, beautiful art, bright scooters, intrinsic romance, classic but flirty style, and an abundance of al fresco cafes? When I visited the manageably sized city of Lyon for a dear ex-pat friend’s “hen night” weekend {the equivalent of a bachelorette party in the States} , I didn’t have any idea I was in for a fast and furious love affair with the city and French life. I immediately gravitated to the eclectic street artists, the open-air produce market that lined the river bank, the lusciously verdant flower stands at nearly every turn, the delicious coffee and flavored sodas, the decadent brunch dishes, the pockets of parks and tiny enclaves, and the flirty but classic styles displayed in shop windows. I sat on park benches and bistro chairs, letting the rush of energetic French conversation wash over me. I couldn’t get enough.

I have since determined that I am so in love with Lyon that I will someday retire there, at least in part, to live in a little walk-up flat with sun-filled tall windows and a cheerful mix of flea market finds for furniture. I’ll go to the river’s edge market to buy baguettes and cheese and spend countless hours people watching at cafes. I’ll take advantage of living on the Continent to travel to any of the remaining European countries I haven’t made it to by then. It’ll be one long enjoyable holiday!

In the meantime, I need to work on a few things to prepare for my Franco freedom. Learning to speak French would seem like a wise step. But, alas, I’m utterly pathetic at learning languages. Really, I spent 10 years of school learning Spanish and can barely get past “como se yama?” any more. I figure I’ll just learn by immersion when the time comes.

I can, however, start to learn more about French cooking. It is a cuisine that intimidates me, to be perfectly honest. It seems so full of sauces and soufflés, all of which require a precise technique. I decided to start with something more rustic and simple, a dish that embraced seasonal ingredients that would likely show up in that riverside market in autumn. Figs are heavenly fall fruit and this “clafouti” couldn’t be easier. I made mine with beautiful farm eggs from Red Haven Farm {isn’t their hand-decorated carton just too cute?}, which created a faultless custard base to amplify the figs’ natural sweetness. The clafouti did puff up in the oven like a soufflé — so dramatic! — but it’s not meant to stay that way so I didn’t have to deal with the dread of watching it fall and feelings of failure. This was the perfect introduction to classic French cooking!

Now, perhaps the remaining nine eggs can be put towards a soufflé… I think I’ll skip the frogs and snails however.

When I saw your photos, I knew thought that the clafouti was too beautiful to be an easy recipe. Imagine my dismay when I saw that it only contains 8 ingredients! Would you recommend another fruit besides figs? Unfortunately, the figs I can get in NYC aren’t very good this time of year.

[…] of the food was uniquely seasonal and easy to grab a bite between bouquets. There was the French Fig Clafouti you’re all familiar with already from the last post. And the dense moist Pumpkin Bread […]